Meekers share a bond that’s as good as gold

Perhaps it is only appropriate that as Norman and Violet Meeker talk about their life together, they are on the campus of the University of West Florida preparing to compete at the Pensacola Senior Games – Norman in the 400 and 800 and Violet in the discus – on a hot and humid September morning.

It is fitting because one of the threads that will forever connect the couple from Gulf Breeze is athletic competition, the two meeting for the first time at a baseball game when Norman was stationed in Japan more than 60 years ago. Norman was playing third base for his regiment’s team.

“He was playing and I like baseball, so I went to see him play,” Violet said. “I didn’t know him at the time, but he was on third and I was close to it, hollering and everything. A guy from Hawaii came over and said he wanted me to meet someone and it was (Norman).”

The two hit it off, and through the efforts of mutual friends, they began dating. Norman still vividly remembers that first date. They went to a social gathering at a chapel annex.

“We decided to meet there and I went in and saw her in the back of the room,” Norman said. “She was reading a magazine. She looked up and saw me and put her head back down. But it worked out. We had a good time.”

Read the full article in the Sept. 29 issue of Navarre Press. Click here to subscribe online for as little as $38 per year.